Voice of the people (letter).

Deadbeat Delay

May 27, 1996|By Louis I. Lang (D-Skokie), State representative.

SKOKIE — New York State has snared 17,500 deadbeat New York parents who have failed to pay their child support during the past two months under a new program that expects to collect $30 million this year, according to a recent news report. An identical Illinois legislative program remains trapped in a state house panel.

New York's ambitious effort to locate deadbeat parents is succeeding, but Illinois' effort is going nowhere fast. The Illinois measure, of which I am the chief sponsor, is lying in House Speaker Lee Daniels' legislative morgue, the House Rules Committee.

According to the Illinois comptroller, overdue child-support payments in Illinois top $1 billion, which are 81 percent of total existing child-support claims. The legislature, however, is failing to act effectively and responsibly to collect.

The Illinois legislation and the New York program require employers to provide identifying information to the appropriate state authorities for each new employee hired. In Illinois, the legislation directs notification to the Department of Public Aid, and the department is required to maintain a new employee directory to aid the collection of child-support payments.

This legislation would also represent a huge tax-relief measure for the people. If parents are paying child support, then the taxpayers are not. It is that simple. Illinois House Republicans have an opportunity to provide tax relief and bolster child-support collection efforts here in Illinois, if Speaker Daniels were only to put the bill to vote.